Post navigation

This week’s post will be based off of the influencer Marc Goodman but will be unlike other posts where I mention his top tips for health, wealth and success but rather summarize an opinion of his I believe to be true.

Technology Boom:

The world is growing economically, in population but most importantly, technologically. This growth is at a rate we have never seen before where technologies are becoming obsolete within months. While this has had great benefits to the average individual – replacing medial tasks, saving time and money and even eliminating our need to walk around, there is a more serious side to this as well.

Privacy and Security:

As more and more people have access to technology and the Internet, these individuals are leaving traces and information about themselves publicly attainable. What does this mean?

This has the effect of giving anyone and everyone the ability to know where you are, what you like to do and more importantly, what you are worth. When the “bad guys” are searching for their next target, they are not living under a rock or in a far away cave. They too have access to social media, google search engines and every technological device that we have. They can hack your phone, break into your car or download your health records. This is the future and that is scary to think about.

Our privacy and security is at risk so what can we do about it?

Precautions We Can Take:

So what can we do?

First off, we can choose to use privacy settings on our applications. This won’t stop everybody but it is a good first step.

More importantly, depending on our popularity and recognition, there are precautions that should be taken. Do not use your real names in certain cases when you are travelling. When you are filling out information online to a website you do not trust, do not give personal and sensitive information, this can be turned around and sold to the highest bidder.

Next, how about we don’t post our health records or DNA structures online for anyone in the general public to access. Individual bio-attacks are real and cheaper than you can imagine.

Lastly, try using websites and applications that are more encryption-friendly than others (Telegram for example).

Now of course, everyone should not freak out over this threat and let it ruin their lives but by taking some precautions and being aware will help defend yourself if the time comes.

This week’s point of focus is on the Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg (aka the WordPress coder).

He shares several important lessons and stories that I believe are worthy of spreading to my readers. Let’s get started…

Calm under Pressure:

First off, Matt is known as someone who will not allow himself to freak out or panic when confronted with a stressful situation. And this is because of one key idea; that getting mad or upset will not change your situation. Nor, will it make current matters any better.

Instead he would rather spend his time in a relaxed mindset and come up with a solution.

Start With One:

Matt also shares a trick he used to get in better shape. He promised himself to do one pushup before he went to bed every night.

Now one pushup might not seem like a reasonable amount of work to keep someone fit, however, this was only a trick that could get him started. One pushup would lead to several more as he was already in the position.

Why this trick works, is because it is usually the initial hurdle of starting that keeps us from our end goals.

Tail End of Family Time:

A final lesson I would like to share from Matt Maullenweg is something that he mentions on time spent with family.

It is crazy to think about, but after you have finished high-school and university (depending on if you still live at home or not) you have spent more than 90% of your time with your parents that will in your entire life, on average.

When you start to think about the logic behind that, you begin to realize that now is the time to make sure every visit you have with your family counts. Because you never know how short life is until you know.

This week’s Healthy Like post features Dr. Peter Attia of Eating Academy.

These health, fitness and well-being style weeks differ slightly from the normal lessons learned from Wealthy and Wise Like editions. In these posts, I’ve mostly addressed topics that our featured star has talked about and has encouraged. This is due to the fact that I’m not an MD nor is every health related suggestion applicable to the masses.

Let’s get started…

Don’t Forget Leg Day:

I am guilty of skipping leg days all the time. But it’s not just leg day, its all of the muscles around the hip as well such as the “glute medius”. Dr. Attia advises that for mobility-sake that we should not forget to workout these muscles in a variety of non-routine exercises.

Don’t Forget Blood Test Day:

Although it sounds dreadful, it can save your life to stay up-to-date on your doctor’s recommended blood annual blood tests. Also, it doesn’t hurt to even check up on a few less commonly recommended blood tests in cases where they are publicly available and can possibly save your life. Identification of an issue isn’t as easy without all the testing.

Everything Is Relative:

Your overall fitness level is relative. This helps you realize both sides of the spectrum. First, that compared to a 400-pound individual you are in pretty good shape while also reminding you that your friend just ran an ultra-marathon and has six-pack abs while you don’t.

The last few topics are just reminders. Don’t forget to include weight training in your weekly workout schedule as that along with cardiovascular exercise is good for staying in good shape. And lastly, don’t forget that success in your department of health is only one area of your life. You should have control and be making efforts to improve all areas of your life, not only your health.

This week’s edition of Wise Like features the award-winning journalist Sebastian Jungler.

The Calming of Acting over Waiting:

This concept did not come logically to me until I finished the thought. When I heard that army men and women specified that they felt more at ease during the time they were mid-fight than any other time while on deployment.

But think about it, if you have been preparing for something your whole life, wouldn’t you feel at home or at ease when it actually came time to do it. All the rest of the time, you spend wondering if you’ll be ready or when it will be time to use what you have learnt.

That is why acting over waiting around is actually has more of a calming effect.

The Upside of Disaster:

This second concept is also not immediately intuitive but it is still true. Although in relative terms there is never really an upside of disaster, there is still truth to the fact that after a disaster occurs there is something special that happens.

People start coming together, unity among family, friends, communities and regions begin to forget about their differences and join together to help one another through the tragedy. No judgement, no thought about borders, nothing.

In times of crisis, we see the true meaning of community and the human race.

Fail + Attempt the Hardest Things:

In life, you will never grow if you live within your comfort zone and only do what you know. It is important for your sanity and your development to move on to bigger and better things even if they scare you.

It doesn’t matter if you fail because failure is normal and failure is a learning tool to get it right the next time.

No-one expects you to be perfect and be right all the time, but they do expect you to try.

What Would You Die For:

The last thought I want to bring to light that Sebastian mentions is his question that he asks and seldom gets a heartfelt response.

What would you die for?

Who would you die for?

These days, these questions rarely have an answer, yet it is these types of questions that for those who have answers to them will be the most driven and successful in their goals.

This week’s edition will focus on the Reddit co-founder Alex Ohanion as well as some other small tips I learnt this past week that I wanted to share.

Take the Criticism and Use it to Inspire

When you receive “hate” arising from the work you do, such as “you’re never going to make it” or “you could never actually do that”, you should dismiss it but never forget it.

What I mean by this, is that when you receive that criticism, keep that in your head as motivation for later proving them wrong. Hang it up in your office, make a t-shirt with that and leave it up in your room and use it as inspiration to keep grinding.

Give a Damn About What You Do

If you plan on selling baseball cards as your career, I really hope that you actually enjoy baseball or the process of buying and reselling at the very least. Liking what you do and having a passion or a reason to continue working is necessary to be successful. If you do not have this, you might be able to last in the short-run but you will not be able to trick yourself into lasting for the long-term.

That is why you should assess whether you actually give a damn about what you are doing right now. If yes, awesome. If you don’t, it might be a sign that you will easily be bored and uninterested in the work in the near future.

Bonus Material from Tim Ferriss

Do something uncomfortable today – whatever it is that you have been avoiding for the past couple days because it involves some serious work or concentration, set aside some time and just execute. No distractions allowed.

You are better than you think – we all judge ourselves and unfairly compare ourselves to others around us. This is just a reminder that we are not independent of ourselves and we actually are more accomplished and skilled than we think.

This week I’ve had multiple big decisions that I had to make mainly ones that involved several other people.

In these cases, it can be easy to let other people’s interests and feelings blind you and back you into a corner. Although you can rationalize why that corner is actually a good decision (as it is what your friends/family want), it really should not be considered unless you are actually indifferent.

You, and only you, are going to look after what you truly want.

Only after you have figured out what you want, then can you attempt to allow yourself to help others. This can seem selfish to some readers, and yes I agree, but it is important to be self-interested. It is also important to balance selflessness and selfishness as you cannot give unless you have and you do not have unless you do not give it all away.

These insights were ones that I had to use this past week and although I didn’t always feel amazing about my decisions (as some people had to get left out or did not get exactly what they wanted), I knew that they were the best ones I could make.

Today (Saturday), I have been consumed with the annual US Open Golf major in Wisconsin.

The race at the top of the leaderboard is back and forth every 10 minutes. First, you’ll have Justin Thomas hitting eagles and taking a solo lead, next thing you know there are a record 8 players tied for the lead.

This is a phenomenal Day 3 to the tournament and I can’t wait for Sunday’s final.

Personally, I have Rickie Fowler and Justin Thomas as my favourites to win, they are playing consistently well and can both escape from poor situations and get hot real quick!